Palm Oil Industry—Processes, By-Product
Treatment and Value Addition
Rashid Shamsuddin, Gobind Singh, H. Y. Kok, M. Hakimi Rosli,
N. A. Dawi Cahyono, Man Kee Lam, Jun Wei Lim, and Aaron Low
Abstract
The palm oil industry has continued to grow in Malaysia
and worldwide. It provides job opportunities to at least 3
million people along its beneficiation chain and contributed
RM37.7 billion to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in 2018. At only 10% oil yield from a palm tree, this
growth leads to an excess of palm oil by-products in
Malaysia. From mill operations alone, palm oil mill effluent
(POME) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) accounted for up to
80% (wet basis) of the total mill residues. Malaysia
produces approximately 53 million cubic meters of POME
annually and typical treatment processes using open ponds
are inadequate to cope with this amount efficiently.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) and aerobic composting
(AC) are potential alternative treatment processes suitable
for POME treatment while simultaneously producing
value-added products such as biogas and compost fertilizer.
To further promote sustainability, other by-products can be
used as additives in AD and AC to improve the overall
process by formulating the ideal feedstock material which
helps to provide optimum conditions for the process.
However, technical knowledge is required to sustain
bacterial activity in both processes otherwise the fermentation processes are easily disrupted resulting in low
methane yield and unhealthy compost. This chapter
describes the palm oil industry overview from global and
Malaysian perspectives. It outlines the processing approach
in the mill, type of products and by-products generated in
each processing stage and the treatment strategies used.
Two commonly used treatment processes; AD and AC are
described in detail with the potential of using co-digestion
additives to improve the processes.
Keywords
Palm oil Á By-products Á Anaerobic digestion Á
Composting Á Co-digestion Á Value addition Á Palm oil
mill effluent Á Empty fruit bunch Á Oil palm frond Á Oil
palm trunk Á Palm kernel shells Á POME Á EFB Á OPF Á
OPT Á PKS
1 Introduction to Palm Oil Industry
1.1 Introduction to Oil Palm
Elaeis guineensis Jacq. is in the family of Palmae and genus
Elaeis, commonly known as oil palm. After planting, harvesting can occur after approximately 24–30 months. Each
tree could produce about eight to fifteen fresh fruit bunches
(FFB) annually, with each bunch containing approximately
2000 palm fruits about the size of a small plum. The yield
varies according to the planting variety and its age (Henson
1992). The outermost part of palm fruit is the mesocarp, this
surrounds the endocarp layer which consists of a hard kernel
and shell (Fig. 1) (Harun et al. 2016). Depending on the
species, the mesocarp layer and kernel nut can contain
approximately 49% crude palm oil (CPO) and 50% palm
kernel oil (PKO) (Basiron and Chan 2000).
The species of Elaeis guineensis are categorized by the
fruit colour and characteristics. There are three fruit types:
Dura, Pisifera and Tenera that can be differentiated based on
shell thickness and mesocarp content (Fig. 2) (de Almeida
Rios et al. 2018). Dura palms have endocarp thickness of
R. Shamsuddin (&) Á G. Singh Á H. Y. Kok Á M. Hakimi Rosli Á
N. A. Dawi Cahyono Á M. K. Lam Á J. W. Lim
HICoE- Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of
Self-Sustainable Building, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak,
Malaysia
e-mail: mrashids@utp.edu.my
J. W. Lim
Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti
Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
A. Low
Ligar LP, Ruakura Research Campus, Bisley Road, Hamilton,
3214, New Zealand
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Inamuddin and A. Khan (eds.), Sustainable Bioconversion of Waste to Value Added Products, Advances in Science,
Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61837-7_8
121
Treatment and Value Addition
Rashid Shamsuddin, Gobind Singh, H. Y. Kok, M. Hakimi Rosli,
N. A. Dawi Cahyono, Man Kee Lam, Jun Wei Lim, and Aaron Low
Abstract
The palm oil industry has continued to grow in Malaysia
and worldwide. It provides job opportunities to at least 3
million people along its beneficiation chain and contributed
RM37.7 billion to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in 2018. At only 10% oil yield from a palm tree, this
growth leads to an excess of palm oil by-products in
Malaysia. From mill operations alone, palm oil mill effluent
(POME) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) accounted for up to
80% (wet basis) of the total mill residues. Malaysia
produces approximately 53 million cubic meters of POME
annually and typical treatment processes using open ponds
are inadequate to cope with this amount efficiently.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) and aerobic composting
(AC) are potential alternative treatment processes suitable
for POME treatment while simultaneously producing
value-added products such as biogas and compost fertilizer.
To further promote sustainability, other by-products can be
used as additives in AD and AC to improve the overall
process by formulating the ideal feedstock material which
helps to provide optimum conditions for the process.
However, technical knowledge is required to sustain
bacterial activity in both processes otherwise the fermentation processes are easily disrupted resulting in low
methane yield and unhealthy compost. This chapter
describes the palm oil industry overview from global and
Malaysian perspectives. It outlines the processing approach
in the mill, type of products and by-products generated in
each processing stage and the treatment strategies used.
Two commonly used treatment processes; AD and AC are
described in detail with the potential of using co-digestion
additives to improve the processes.
Keywords
Palm oil Á By-products Á Anaerobic digestion Á
Composting Á Co-digestion Á Value addition Á Palm oil
mill effluent Á Empty fruit bunch Á Oil palm frond Á Oil
palm trunk Á Palm kernel shells Á POME Á EFB Á OPF Á
OPT Á PKS
1 Introduction to Palm Oil Industry
1.1 Introduction to Oil Palm
Elaeis guineensis Jacq. is in the family of Palmae and genus
Elaeis, commonly known as oil palm. After planting, harvesting can occur after approximately 24–30 months. Each
tree could produce about eight to fifteen fresh fruit bunches
(FFB) annually, with each bunch containing approximately
2000 palm fruits about the size of a small plum. The yield
varies according to the planting variety and its age (Henson
1992). The outermost part of palm fruit is the mesocarp, this
surrounds the endocarp layer which consists of a hard kernel
and shell (Fig. 1) (Harun et al. 2016). Depending on the
species, the mesocarp layer and kernel nut can contain
approximately 49% crude palm oil (CPO) and 50% palm
kernel oil (PKO) (Basiron and Chan 2000).
The species of Elaeis guineensis are categorized by the
fruit colour and characteristics. There are three fruit types:
Dura, Pisifera and Tenera that can be differentiated based on
shell thickness and mesocarp content (Fig. 2) (de Almeida
Rios et al. 2018). Dura palms have endocarp thickness of
R. Shamsuddin (&) Á G. Singh Á H. Y. Kok Á M. Hakimi Rosli Á
N. A. Dawi Cahyono Á M. K. Lam Á J. W. Lim
HICoE- Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of
Self-Sustainable Building, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak,
Malaysia
e-mail: mrashids@utp.edu.my
J. W. Lim
Department of Fundamental and Applied Sciences, Universiti
Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
A. Low
Ligar LP, Ruakura Research Campus, Bisley Road, Hamilton,
3214, New Zealand
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Inamuddin and A. Khan (eds.), Sustainable Bioconversion of Waste to Value Added Products, Advances in Science,
Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61837-7_8
121